Summarize books after reading them in order to better process and remember them.
If you want to remember what you learned in a book, writing a book review is an excellent way to reinforce your memory. If you take just a few minutes to record what you have read after you finish a book, you will find you have a better understanding and recall of the material at a later date. You don’t have to publish your review anywhere—the process is useful even if you don’t. However, sending it to people or publishing it on social media or dedicated book review websites may benefit others. In turn, you can also learn something from your interactions with others about these reviews.
Shortly after you finish reading a book, take a few minutes to think over what you just read, then write a few paragraphs about what you recall. You can leaf through the book for additional information, but don’t stress yourself out. You’re not writing a book report for school. Note down what you want to remember—ideas that you’d like to reflect on, that you find meaningful, and that you believe will help you sometime in the future. The act of writing will help fix the information in your brain, enabling you to remember it more clearly. Also, the challenge of articulating your understanding of the book will help to solidify it.
There are many ways to write book reviews. You can use a notebook and pen. You can record audio files. Or you can actually go online and review the book on book retailer sites or review sites. Each option will help you better understand the books you read and remember what you read.
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